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A portrait of Rick Perry hangs next to the Paint Creek School gym, with a plaque that reads "Governor Rick Perry, 2000 — Student of Paint Creek 1957-1968."

Reporter-News file photo
Gov. Rick Perry

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News
Rick Perry supporters and opponents have lunch Thursday at the Double "A" Drive Inn in Haskell, where Perry was born.

Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News
Sandy Powell, who lives near Lake Stamford, has been following Gov. Rick Perry's bid for the presidency. Powell said she was disappointed Perry dropped out of the race.

PAINT CREEK — A call to Gov. Rick Perry's parents' house results in a polite "thank you just the same" by a female voice followed by a quick click.

"I think that's over and done with, so I don't see any need in trying to contact us," the woman, presumably Perry's mother, Amelia Perry, said politely but curtly.

It's a response many who know Perry and are protective of the former Paint Creek High School graduate offered Thursday.

Some of the people in the area around the small community where Perry grew up refuse to comment about the governor because, they said, they attend church with the family. Others are related, by blood or marriage, and said they didn't deem it appropriate.

Even vocal supporters, such as Wallar Overton, acknowledge that the governor is something of a divisive force in the area of Paint Creek, Haskell and Stamford.

Often, that ire stems from Perry switching political parties, from Democrat to Republican, five years after his election to the Texas House of Representatives in 1984.

Overton, 72, grew up going to church and attending the same Scout troop as Perry — Overton's father was their scoutmaster.

"We've been thinking for some time that it was something of a lost cause because he wasn't getting any support," he said Thursday afternoon of Perry's campaign. "But we're still proud because of all he's done."

Overton said he believes the national media "abandoned (Perry)" fairly early.

"There are some people who just haven't gotten over him changing parties when he first got in," Overton said. " ... That disappointed a lot of people here. He has people here who are really for him and people who are really against him, and you can find them on any corner."

Don Ballard, for nine years Paint Creek Independent School District's superintendent, knows Perry and, like the governor, grew up in the area.

He met Perry through 4-H and other programs when he was younger.

Like others interviewed, Ballard, 65, said that it was probably "time to back out" for Perry, specifically citing Perry's recent performance in presidential debates as the primary reason his candidacy faltered.

"He's just not a debater," Ballard said. "I think that was probably one of the big issues. And I think he's just sometimes human — we all have a freeze-up every now and then, especially when we're on a national stage."

But Ballard said that even though there were "lots of decisions he (Perry) made that I don't agree with," he would have still voted for him if he were named the Republican nominee.

Connie Lusk, 62, whose father worked with the Perry family for 33 years, remains close to Perry's parents and regards the candidate as a friend and "like one of my brothers."

"I have no idea," she said, when asked what stopped his momentum, though she said that seeing people mock her friend throughout the campaign was deeply hurtful to her.

"It was hard to watch that," she said, adding that she hoped Perry has a thick enough skin to shake it off.

On the streets of nearby Haskell, no flags fly for Rick Perry's presidential bid, and no banners hang.

Among deep-stained wooden tables, the eatery's customers, munching on burgers, handmade breaded steak fingers with cream gravy and other traditional diner-style treats, drain glasses of sweet tea or bottomless 75-cent cups of coffee and talk freely about the candidate.

Around a small clutch of tables, differences of opinion were evident.

"That's a damned good thing," said Angela Kirklin, among a group of friends, when asked about Perry dropping from the race.

"That man cannot articulate, period," Geri Massey said. "He doesn't have anything on the cuff. If it's not in front of him in black and white, he cannot remember (it)."

"I'm sorry he dropped out," said an unapologetic Doris Barbee in response, while "Shorty" Baumbach, 63, sitting across from her, recalled that he recently ran into Perry's father, Ray Perry, and told him to wish his son good luck on a recent debate.

"I kind of like him," said Baumbach, who was a grade ahead of the future governor in school.

Double "A" owner Donald Cunningham tries to take a middle road.

"I don't get involved in all of that," he said, when asked about politics, content to keep his restaurant open to all.

"Still, no matter if you're a Republican or Democrat, it would have been great to say we had a president come from this area," he noted.

Out enjoying the sunshine with her dogs, Sandy Powell, 72, who lives near Lake Stamford, expressed disappointment that Perry had dropped out.

"He has some very good ideas," said Powell, who met, and liked, Perry's parents while undergoing rehabilitation at the West Texas Rehabilitation Center.

"But he just cannot debate," she said.

That said, Powell said she, too, would still support Perry if he were an option.